1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved heating pellet, and more particularly to a heating pellet of the type used in hospitals and other food-service operations to keep food in a warmed state on a serving plate after the serving plate has been placed on a heated pellet.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heating pellets have been used heretofore in the service of prepared meals, for example in a hospital or other type of institution, to maintain food in a warmed state between the time it is served in appropriate portions on a serving plate until the time when it is distributed to the person eating the meal. Typically, the pellets are stacked one on top of another and are placed in an oven and heated to a temperature of about 250.degree. F. The pellets are then removed from the oven and placed on a serving tray, and each serving plate with food is placed on a heated pellet, which keeps the plate and food in a warmed state until it can be served. Because the pellets must be heated by conduction, it takes a considerable period of time in the heating oven to raise the temperature of the pellets to 250.degree. F. resulting in high energy requirements.
One example of a heating pellet previously used for such an application is a simple cast-aluminum disc generally in the shape of a pie pan, the outer portion of which angles upwardly and ends in a vertically projecting rim. The pellet is designed so that the upper surface of the pellet approximately matches in size and shape the bottom exterior configuration of the serving plates with which it is intended to be used. Spacers may be embossed on the bottom of the pellet in order to separate it from the surface on which it is placed.
Such prior art pellets have certain disadvantages. For example, it is very difficult to remove a plate from such a pellet without spilling the food that is on the plate, because one's fingers cannot be inserted between the plate and the vertical rim of the heated pellet. If a sharp instrument were to be used in an attempt to pry the plate from the pellet, there is the likely possibility of catapulting the plate from the pellet, spilling the food and possibly breaking the plate.
Also, these prior art pellets are not efficient for use in a forced air convection oven, which is the optimum heating system for this purpose as it uses less energy. In a convection oven, for fastest heating it is essential that the forced hot air to be permitted to reach all parts of the pellets. The pellets are most efficiently heated in a stack, and therefore the hot air must have room to circulate between the stacked pellets. Pellets previously in use, however, have failed to provide any clearance for air flow from the edges to the centers of the pellets and further provided no other path for air flow, and thus could not be effectively heated in lower energy convection ovens.